1.)
Plug in the power cord.
2.) Insert batteries in the TV remote.
3.) Power on the TV.
4.) You need to
consider doing a channel scan for over-the-air broadcasts.
5.) Get to know
your TV remote and on-screen menus (MENU button).
6.) Set the time and date
on the TV.
7.) For internet capable TV, setup wired or wireless connection.
8.) Adjust contrast, color hue, brightness levels to your satisfaction.

How you connect a
device depends on which outputs the device has and what inputs are
available on the HDTV or Audio/Video Receiver or both. HDMI is the
connection of choice for high definition video and audio. So if
possible, connect using HDMI. HDMI outputs are available on Blu-ray
players, some DVD players, HD
cable
TV boxes and HD satellite TV
receivers. HDTVs will have from one to as many as six HDMI inputs with
four being about average.

Blu-ray players and
Digital Cable TV boxes -

Use an HDMI cable
to connect the HDMI output on the source device to the HDMI input on
the TV. HDMI will give you high definition video and audio. An HDMI
cable costs about $10. Don't pay $30 or $50 for an HDMI cable at a
retail electronics store.

Use HDMI cables
to connect high definition devices to
the HDTV. Select the HDMI input on the HDTV for the device you want
to
use.

What if I run out of HDMI inputs on my TV?
Answer: Use an HDMI switch box or an
audio/video receiver with multiple HDMI
inputs.

Remember to select the
proper input (source) on the TV using the TV remote.

Standard definition
source devices

The older RCA
inputs are still available on HDTVs but are fading fast.

For standard
definition devices such as a VCR, older DVD player, Wii video console
or standard cable box, connect using a yellow video cable (RCA) and
white audio cable matching the colors on the cable with the jacks.

Most HDTVs have
several inputs to connect many devices. If you have more devices than
TV inputs, then a switchbox can solve this issue. Switchboxes
come in many flavors, so
get the one that
matches your needs.

Audio Video
switchboxes can be combined so that the output of one is the input of
another giving 3, 6, 9 or more devices connected to a single TV input.
Connect DVD players, video game
consoles and more. Component video and HDMI switchboxes are also
available.

If you get your TV from local broadcast TV stations, you need an antenna
connected to your HDTV RF VHF/UHF antenna input jack using RG-6 coaxial
cable.
The input jack is round and usually silver with a screw-on thread. Your
HDTV has a built-in digital TV tuner for digital TV stations so no
decoder
box is required for over-the-air channels.

Select on the TV using the
TV remote, the antenna input. Press SOURCE or INPUT select on the TV
remote and navigate to the proper input source. Local TV can be some of
the best high
definition video you can get, better than cable TV. Most TV stations
can broadcast multiple standard definition programs. Visit www.tvfool.com
to see your local TV stations. Indoor TV antennas will work if you live
in a city and are within 20 miles of the TV transmitter. Otherwise an
outdoor TV antenna is best.

Usually you need to
perform a channel scan on the TV to setup the channels you can receive
over-the-air.

Most people have
a cable TV box or satellite TV box for tuning in their
pay TV channels. If this box is High Definition capable, you can view
HD
shows on your HDTV. If it is not, you can still view TV shows on the
HDTV, just not in High Definition.

Today, to connect your Cable TV or
Satellite TV decoder/converter box to your HDTV, you will want to use a
component video cable setup or an HDMI cable connection for HD. Both
perform
well for HD video. HDMI uses only a single cable, where component video
uses 3 cables for video (green, blue, red) and 2 for audio (white and
red).

COMPONENT VIDEO
HOOKUP

Component video is High Definition capable and has 3 video
cables, green, blue and red, and for the sound, you also need
two audio cables, red
and white.

If your TV is not an HDTV but the TV has RCA inputs, then connect the
yellow video and white and red audio cables as shown.

Hookup Diagram showing OPTIONAL Audio connections. You can connect the
two audio cables (white and red) so that you take advantage of the
richer sound produced by a stereo amp or receiver. Use the AUX input
jacks or the CD input jacks on the stereo Amplifier and select this
function on the Amp. The Amp could be a soundbar.
See below for "How to
add great sound to HDTV". Surround Sound is available from some TV
shows. For this hookup you need a digital
audio cable.

See below for
surround sound connections.

HDMI
HOOKUP - High Definition Multimedia Interface

Some cable TV and satellite TV boxes have HDMI outputs. If yours does,
then you can use the all digital HDMI cable hookup. HDMI is capable of
carrying high definition video (720p, 1080i) and up to 8
channels of digital audio.

Audio

The sound portion of TV programs today is often overlooked but is very
important to the programs enjoyment. With digital programming from
satellite and cable TV providers, often the program is sent with
surround
sound.

You have several
options when deciding how you want to listen to
the audio portion of TV programming. More and more the HDTVs are
getting thinner and thinner and soon there will be no room for speakers
in the TV itself. It will be a display only. Therefore the audio will
be sent to an audio processor, which is required anyway for surround
sound decoding and amplification.

Choices include:

• 1)
Send audio to the TV speakers. This will be 2-channel stereo only. You
can use 2 RCA audio cables, typically white and red. (Component video
setup)

• 2)
With HDMI setup, audio is included in HDMI cable.

• 3)
For surround sound, use a digital audio cable, optical or digital coax,
to send the bitstream from cable/satellite box to an Audio/Video
Receiver with Dolby Digital 5.1
or more capability.

• 4)
The newest HD audio codecs require HDMI
version 1.3 or higher and a HDMI
cable connection from such sources as Blu-ray players to an A/V
receiver with the HD audio decoders built-in. These include the newest
HD audio from Dolby and DTS.

HDTV optical
digital audio port

Most HDTVs today have a output jack labeled OPTICAL on the rear panel
which is typically black and square shaped.

The optical digital audio connection is used in conjunction with the
TV's built-in digital TV tuner.

Some HDTV owners use a VHF/UHF antenna with their HDTV to watch local
HD channels. When you tune a broadcast channel with the TV's built-in
digital tuner, an audio signal will be sent to the optical output. By
connecting the TV's optical output jack to a surround sound A/V
receiver, using a Toslink
optical cable, you can enjoy
your programming in surround sound. (Not all broadcast TV programming
has surround sound, so in these cases, you will only hear sound from
your front speakers.)

An Audio/Video Receiver with Dolby Digital decoding is required to
process the surround sound and send to your loudspeakers. The A/V
receiver has an optical audio input jack to connect to the HDTV with an
optical digital audio cable.

HDMI connection

Currently, audio from TV broadcasts goes up to Dolby Digital 5.1 (or 6
channels) which uses the optical connection while Bluray audio can be
somewhat more complex. The newer digital audio, which is on some Bluray
discs, may require the latest A/V receiver to decode and also requires
an HDMI cable connection to send the audio to the A/V receiver. HDMI
can carry these newer audio bitstreams while optical cannot. Surround
Sound from these Bluray discs should be even better than TV broadcast
surround sound but make sure to use HDMI hookups
and the newest A/V
receiver to process the audio. TV
sound
options

SOUNDBARS
Another option is the external soundbar.
These
will not give you full surround sound but offer better sound than TV
speakers and do not take up as much space as a full home theater
system.

Connect
PC to HDTV

To hookup a PC/Laptop to a HDTV use a male to male VGA cable and a
3.5mm audio cable. Select the PC input on the TV. Laptop
to TV hookup.

Standard VCRs and standard DVD players/recorders are not capable of
High-Definition video recording although many devices have HDMI
up-conversion output which improves the resolution but does not bring
it up to HD level. For combo units, use the yellow RCA or the S-Video
input for recording. For output there is usually a common RCA out,
meaning the DVD or the VCR can use this common output, yellow, white
and red RCA jacks. For the DVD only, there is usually a component video
output option. Find the similiar input jacks on the HDTV and connect
cables. Most cable TV boxes and satellite TV boxes have yellow, white
and red outs for recording to VCR/DVD.

Blu-ray players should use the HDMI connection to HDTV. If using a A/V
receiver for audio, connect HDMI cable to an HDMI input on the AVR and
then another HDMI cable from AVR HDMI MONITOR OUT to an HDTV HDMI
input. If your HDTV has limited HDMI inputs, purchase an HDMI switch
box with 4 HDMI inputs and 1 HDMI output.

Your local TV stations can be received on your HDTV by connecting a
good quality VHF/UHF antenna to the RF antenna input jack on the rear
of your HDTV. Use coaxial cable (RG-6) from antenna to HDTV. Since
cable TV providers and satellite TV providers often compress their
signals even more than normal, you may get a better picture from
over-the-air TV shows than from pay TV.